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2011-05-22 - PHASE 1 ~ Dissonance
SPECIAL SPACE SERVICE FLAGSHIP - BASSO SERIO BRIDGE Captain Gordon settles into the plush chair of his freshly appointed commission, as commanding officer of the greatest ship the Triple-S has to offer. He takes a moment to savor it, laughing to himself. All that he'd aspired for, all that he'd worked towards, has come to this. With one hand, he reaches up, adjusting the brim of his captain's cover to rest off to one side somewhat. Using that same hand, he points, "Thursday, take us out. Set course, bring us around Earth for a farewell pass. We'll meet up with the outbound fleet on the far side!" An android manning the helm synths out a "Roger, Captain." and the ship's engines flare to life. As the Basso Serio exits its Shoal Zone repair station, it beguns to unfurl, expanding out solar arrays to ride the winds and generate additional power. Behind the mounts, its jumpcore pulses with low light. "All sails deployed, Captain!" came a declaration from the science officer. Jennifer. Did she even have a last name? Captain Gordon couldn't remember. "Jennifer!" that almost-heroic bass voice of his rings out, "Have our guests from the Federation settled in for the ride?" SHOAL ZONE OUTSKIRTS NOTE: WATCH FOR ROCKS Powered down, the Castrato floats aimlessly amidst the debris, bumping listfully about. Inside, Ernula naps. Or, she naps up until an indicator starts beeping. With a tired sound, she smacks at her console, blinking her eyes open blearily, "Mn. Oh." She rights herself in the cockpit, then slaps her cheeks a few times before she depresses a button, "Alright, everyone! She's finally coming out!" The android girl rests her hands on the controls, a bright smile on her face, "Get ready, okay?" Another Ernula pipes up via the secured radio, "Remember, we don't want to sink it! Just blow off all its armaments. The solar sails are a good target." Yet another Ernula adds, "It looks like a juicy target, but you should avoid the jumpcore if you can. It's heavily defended." Dour Ernula transmits, "Remember, we don't want to sink it. Just blow off all its armaments. The solar sails are also a good target." Duo Maxwell normally didn't do this kind of thing. Fighting for money, generally doing battle in Deathscythe Hell in a manner besides Katharon strike missions - he wasn't that kind of person, which admittedly made him kind of strange in the Trailers. No, Duo had a very specific set of morals - he didn't ever lie and he didn't fight for money, no matter what. However, this was a strike on an A-LAWS object, and one of his friends was in charge. While Duo wasn't too pleased about it, he was still going to join the fight - maybe he'd just let Juku take both their shares or give his pay to an orphanage or something like that. Duo sighs, adjusting his cap as he sits in the cockpit of Deathscythe Hell. Well, that was just the kind of person he was, even if it made some things realy difficult. "Alright," Duo replies over the radio from his invisible position, "I'll go hit th' jumpcore, then. In an' out, oughta be no problem fer me an' Deathscythe Hell, right? I ain't gonna linger, but if I can knock that offline it'd be a real help." Deathscythe Hell coasts invisibly towards the Basso Serio; the Hyper-Wave Jammer and the cloaking device in full bore, Duo slips through the radar, the sonar, the infrared - he slides through the cracks of the Basso Serio's long-and-short-range sensors with expert ease, as if he'd done this kind of thing a thousand times before. Well, he had, but that wasn't really the point. Volunteering for a mission that for anyone else would be suicide...Duo sighs again, tugging his cap straight down. He was that kind of person, too, after all; he and Heero and Quatre and Wufei, they were people who made the impossible possible. They were all that kind of person. It probably gave the people who cared about them more heart attacks than any of those people would care to admit, but that was the price you paid to be a Gundam Pilot. A while ago One must understand, that normally Xiang Yuan would not have taken up a contract that puts him up somewhat directly with the Earth Federation Forces. However, there is something to say about the trailers sticking together. And there is a certain level of love a amongst them for the one known as Ernula. Or rather, for the 'ones' known as Ernula. In addition, the emperor had been convinced of the fact that in truth, the Basso Serio would end up being a danger to the traderoutes between Earth and other worlds. He'd felt a bit guilty about pulling the one known as Sinya into this conflict of his - as well as the Ravens who are currently living on the SuiKyosha, due to the loss and destruction at the Raven's Nest. However, when he'd put this out as an offer - the Ravens had wholefully agreed with coming along - as long as the safety of the citizens were the first objective. This, was no problem... Now Debris Field Amongst the debris field, there is a gigantic comet made out of ice, near the Castrato. Hidden within this gigantic rock, easily twice the size of the SDF-1, which is only slowly floating through space with a small 'tail' of ice behind it, is the SuiKyosha. It is using its magnificent control of water to hold this almost perfect disguise. And there are, in fact, some troops already hidden within this field of ice. A few Armored Core pilots who had agreed to assist in the assault on the Basso Serio. On the bridge of this magnificent ship, Yu Zhi Wu - the XO, Xiang Yuan - the Captain, and a guest of the EFA who disagreed with the fact that Captain Gordon had gotten to be captain of the Tripple-S's best. "She is correct." A greenhaired man states heroicly, on the left of Xiang. The captain raises the blue dragon-ornated and rather sizable gauntlet a bit and puts it under his chin, rubbing it for a moment. "Hrrm, yes. Are there any other targets you may suggest, mister Kurtis?" The white and blue coat wearing man nods in acknowledgement. "I've lined up a few of the targets to hit here." A piece of paper is handed off to Xiang, who immediately hands it off to Yu Zhi Wu after taking a quick look at it. "Alright then, signal the others, we're preparing to release the ice-comet camoflage." Although really, it wasn't a camoflage. It was truly an ice comet. It just had a gigantic battleship hiding within, with its guns aimed straight a the Basso Serio - and on the inside - the melt slowly has begun to melt. With the recent chaos at the Raven's Nest, many had been left uprooted. Not the least of which is one Sinya Leland, wayward catgirl and mechanic extraordinare - who got a bit of a promotion out of the insanity, currently serving onboard the La Gian battleship as her hangar manager. Of course, what that means is that when the SuiKyosha's captain decides to take on a job, she gets dragged along with - like it or not. The fact that they are helping out a fellow Trailer at least gives her a good reason for climbing into her Guymelef and lending a hand in a more direct fashion. Afterall, if Hellcat can defend Mars, then there is no reason that Sinya Leland can't help defend her screwed up Trailer 'family'. It had been a while since she had climbed into the cockpit of her guymelef. So much had changed since that trip a few weeks ago. In the quiet, with her eyes closed, the catgirl can almost pick up that faint pulse of a second heartbeat that isn't her own. The fact is, sometimes she got these feelings when inside the SuiKyosha, and that alone was enough to signal her that the 'fun' was about to begin. "This is Arius, launching and taking up a portside defensive position. Give me a target once we get in range." She's not exactly a soldier, so getting some guidance from the more experienced Captain, XO, and perhaps the rest of the Trailer-brought group would be helpful in keeping her tail in-tact. At the very least, it's unlikely that many of the A-LAWs have ever seen a Guymelef before, so perhaps she could use that to her advantage. Turning her hands in the controls, Sinya launches her gryphon-like unit from the hangar, the thrusters engaging as she launches off from the main comet. Mostly, it would look like a small chunk of ice had broken free and was now hurtling at a slightly different trajectory. With a snap of her tail, Sinya focuses her eyes forward, not as used to piloting in space - especially figuring that Arius was only jury rigged to be even remotely safe in the vaccuum. Something that made combat just that much more dangerous. The Rapid Environmental eXperiment Hound floats at the edges of the shoal zone near the Deathscythe Hell and the Castrato. "God. That isn't a ship. It's a /colony/ with boosters on it." Juku comments form inside her machine's cockpit. Juku presses keys on the controls and the REX Hound's armor polarizes with a *pfsst* and dissappears from normal sight. "That thing's field of fire must be massive, it's got firing arcs /everywhere/." As part of the Federation's escort fleet, a lone A-LAWS GNXIII sticks out amoungst the Federation suit teams. Matching the battleship's accelleration, all it had to do was escort the ship until it was clear, then return. Not the most glamorus asignment, but likely a nessesary one. Siting a repair base in the Shoal Zone was tantamount to a written invitation for pirates and terrorists. Staring out into the emptiness of space, the pilot frowns behind their polerized faceplate, and opens a channel to the battleship's bridge. "This is Blue-0. Something... Isn't right. I don't detect any anomolies within the shoal zone. Except..." With a smooth leap against empty space, the GNXIII slides up to the topside of the warship, glancing at the comet. The faceless pilot opens the connection again, now more certain. "Basso Serio, this is Blue-0. Enemy raiders, hidden in the shoal zone. I can't detect the source or direction." "We are recieving reports of potential anomalies along the waypoint route of the escort fleet, Sir." Dewey's gaze lifts from his book. The lines of text soothing, calm, supporting the course he's already set. The room is alit by a dim, sickly green glow which abates as he dresses and strides to the bridge. "Wake the Ageha." He sits, moving his cape aside with a flourish, "Do not radio to indicate we are moving to assist. Keep me abridged of anything out of the ordinary." A yawn is stifled, even as the dead eyed children of war make their way onto the bridge in their frilly best and form almost a shield of tiny human bodies about their master... Meanwhile, Kazuma Ardygun - still a little sore after his Tengu took the mother of all shellackings on the Moon the other night - is settled in comfortably at the main controls of the Valhawk, with Mihiro ensconced behind him in her usual seat, as the two of them cruise swiftly from the Valstork towards the rendezvous coordinates. Normally, like several of his other friends, Kazuma would be reluctant to put the Valhawk into an anti-A-LAWS operation quite this visibly ... but honestly? He continues to dislike the task force's behavior, not to mention still holding a grudge against their high command for thinking that the Trailers would make a good adjunct force. And he has *NOT* forgiven them for that two-hundred-credit kill bonus thing which was instated. That's just insulting, to Trailers (even the harder-core mercs) and their opponents alike. The Valhawk banks casually around some chunks of debris, shifting course to head more directly towards the Basso Serio. "Would've been nice to get those upgrades in first," Kazuma says under his breath, "but oh well ... Mihiro, we ready?" "As ready as we're gonna get," Mihiro answers. Kazuma nods, double-checking his status readouts ... and opens the throttle all the way, the Valhawk leaping forward like somebody hitched a radiation sail to its tail and set off a nuke just behind the Trailer interceptor. This should prove a nice little distraction before the A-LAWS take real notice of the more sneaky Trailers. Aboard the Basso Serio, Captain Gordon leans back. All going according to plan, "Using this out of the way shoal zone for our maintainence was an excellent idea, Jennifer. Why, I doubt the enemy even knows we're here! What a grand claim it would be to claim you could hide an entire battleship!" "Captain, Blue-0 reports bandits incoming." Thursday announces. Before Gordon can even demand such, images already spring up on monitors. The comet, the split-off shard of ice surrounding something deployed from it. A zoom in highlights a few Armored Cores that haven't fully concealed themselves. Another screen displays the charging Valhawk. A final screen shows the Castrato. It's the last one that actually gets Gordon's attention, though. "That Rounder... This is His doing!" Captain Gordon rises to his feet, throwing out one hand, "All hands to battlestations! All units, launch! It would seem that vandals will not give us a moment's rest!" He pauses, then, as another screen lights up. This one also shows the Castrato, but from a different angle, "...Two of them?" Amidst the gathered Trailers ambush force, Ernula leans forward, "Alright Duo! If you think you can handle it, you have my support, just be careful okay~?" A sudden green laser lances down from above, impacting the left Consonance blade and sending Castrato into a spin, "Yah~!" Recovering, the little Hi-Rounder twists to zero in on its attacker, "Who's there--" "Orders recieved, Master! Charging!" It's another Castrato. The same color. Missing a leg, its armor battered, but unmistakably Ernula's Hi-Rounder. In the Trailer-side one, Ernula blinks a few times, "...I don't get this. Is it her?" She doesn't get much time to think, though, twisting the Castrato aside from a spray of Choir shots. Thrusters light up, sending Castrato upward to meet its twin, "I have to deal with this, guys! Please, take care of the Basso Serio for me!" Speaking of which, the Basso Serio's turrets have begun coming on line. A squadron of Hi-Rounders deploys from its underside launch bay as well. Oblivious to the approach of the Deathscythe Hell, these units take up a defensive pattern around the warship, "This is Star Gold to Blue-0, we're here to support you." Dour Ernula transmits, "I don't get this. Is it her?" "I thought she died." "She came back!" "Why is Ernula attacking Ernula?" They're all shut up by the dour Ernula Core: "It is dissonant. Destroy it." Kazuma Ardygun transmits, "What the .... Ernula, what's going on - ?" Sinya Leland murmurs in a breathless voice, "Two of them?" Dour Ernula transmits, "The unit I lost in Senko was not destroyed as I thought it was. This is bad." Xiang Yuan hums thoughfully. "Can she be... befriended again?" Dour Ernula transmits, "She must be destroyed." Xiang Yuan transmits, "I presume she is under a spell of sorts." Solis Vivent transmits, "She is likely unquiet and has fallen out of communion with the primary hub control unit, thusly must be silenced." Xiang Yuan transmits, "You must excuse me, but I will concentrate on the Basso Serio instead." Dour Ernula transmits, "It is my problem, I will deal with it. Thank you for finishing my mission for me in this emergency." Xiang Yuan transmits, "I do not feel comfortable with assaulting one who was once our own for such reasons." Kazuma Ardygun transmits, "... yeah. Ernula, give us a holler if you need help with the other you - that ship and its task force are gonna need our attention." Dour Ernula transmits, "I understand." Sinya Leland transmits, "Good luck, Ernula. I don't envy you." Juku Reimaru transmits, "Ernula..." Dour Ernula transmits, "Yes?" Juku Reimaru transmits, "...I guess theres nothing that can really be said about this kind of situation, except that humans have to go through facing their own internal demons. It can be a struggle, hard, painfull. It can break people, but it can make them stronger too, in the end. So, good luck." Dour Ernula transmits, "I understand. Thank you." The ice comet slowly begins to melt further, from the inside out. Pockets of air which had contained Armored Core units, as well as a NEXT or two, are quickly growing in size - and those troops within are beginning their startup sequence and reheating their systems to ensure no ice had gotten into places it shouldn't. "I'll be taking my unit out into combat now." The green haired EFA man states and promptly turns about and heads off the bridge. "Strange man." Yu Zhi Wu mutters, which gets an odd stare from Xiang. The voice of Sinya Leland then comes in through the radios. <"Read you loud and clear, Arius. Remain with us until we start the initial bombardment, we don't want you to get lost in the bombardment."> The XO calls in reply through a fancy shell shaped communicator. Then suddenly, radar catches another unit, and it quickly gets moved onto the main screen of the SuiKyosha - a large flat aquarium like screen hanging from the top of the ceiling, with a black background, giving a blue holographic image of what's before them. "Another Castrato!?" Yu Zhi Wu holds a hand before her mouth. Quickly, communications start coming through, and Xiang stares at the screen for a long time, rather pensive as it becomes clear that it is pilotted by an Ernula who no longer is... part of the collective. No matter how he try, he cannot get himself to assault this target however. It just... feels wrong to him. So instead, he turns his attention upon the battleship. "Finish the preparations." And as the captain states this, the gigantic main cannons at the tips of the unit's verniers, and the massive cannon beneath the SuiKyosha are chargin. The ice wall is quickly being drawn into the SuiKyosha, torrents like water-tornados quickly forming as the ice shifts into sheer water and connects to those weapon systems, whilst other areas turn into bubbles that move slowly with the gigantic watership as the ice continues to break further and the Armored Core units remain at its sides. Then suddenly, from its hangar, another unit appears. It's a large green penguin with red eyes - and a gigantic 'X' marked at its belly. <"Prinner X! Launching!"> Kurtis calls out over the radio, and his personal Gunmen unit lifts off and moves to the side. Then finally... "Fire all main cannons, then move all power to thrusters and push us starboard of the starboard of the Basso Serio, and fire at anything that moves - that includes the other incoming battleship." Yu Zhi Wu gives the commands. The helmsman quickly starts twirling on the gigantic wooden shipwheel, and pushes forth on a metalic pieces - sending a ring from it to indicate that a change in speed had been requested. The watertorrents continue to gather at the three main cannons, and then finally, they all fire! Streams of blue beamfire rush across the battlefield, soaking up a good part of the battlefield. It's quite impressive really, to see this many beams flush forwards the way they do, lighting up space and cutting through it like a knife through butter. And the moment those beams have fired, a water-like reflections rushes through space, expanding throughout the entire battlefield, and like a ship on water, the SuiKyosha pushes forwards. The Armored Core units then push forwards, and even the Prinner X moves forwards, firing beams from its red eye! Xiang Yuan transmits, "The path has been cut, all units, move forward! The SuiKyosha will halt any major bombardment until we are starboard of the target." In many ways, Arius is far from a normal guymelef these days. As Sinya had grown by learning about new technologies, so had her once-ancient unit. Of course, this is the first test run for a new heads-up display, which she had programmed from her experiments with cybernetics. There is a blip in her ear as it identifies the second Castrato unit, "Two of them?" She murmurs under her breath, green eyes blinking. She is quiet for a moment as voices buzz in her ears, although the expresison on the catgirl's face is not pleased. Perhaps Solis's almost soulless response, or the strange way that one Ernula could talk about the others, it is just a little unsettling. "Good luck, Ernula. I don't envy you." With a movement of her finger, she identifies the rogue unit and flags it as an enemy. As the guymelef comes closer, on an intercept course with the Basso serio, Sinya clenches both fists, pulling backwards as it shifts out of flight mode and into the more recognisable form of a robot. The knight's gryphon-like helmet swivels as she does a long-distance fly-by, trying to avoid the reach of the guns as they come online. One by one, she's flagging them in her display - something others might have an AI to do for them. Just as the controls, much of the computer systems installed in the guymelef are still quite manual. "I'll work on taking out some of the turrets. See if we can't cut down some of the firepower." She hangs back a few moments longer as the SuiKyosha fires off that initial volley. There is no way she is going to get in between two battleships fighting it out - that wouldn't be a good idea for her far smaller unit. Instead, she engages the thrusters with a press of her legs, swiveling Arius around to the opposite side of the battleship, honing in on one of the sets of guns. Drawing her hand to her side, Sinya flexes her fingers and the small cylinder in the guymelef's hand extends into a glowing staff. Apparently even her staff has been upgraded - or at least made more shiny. Gritting her teeth, Sinya begins to spin the staff around her unit, moving at high speed to try to avoid the tracking of the guns while she lashes out at the nearest of the turrets. It's like mailbox baseball, except in outerspace, and with guns. The Valhawk continues its approach, doing a few random barrel-rolls, corkscrews, and zig-zags on its approach to the Basso Serio and its defense Hi-Rounders. Normally Kazuma might indulge in some playful radio taunting; this time, though, he keeps his mic off unless he needs to coordinate with the other Trailers, and focuses on picking his targets. Ideally he'd like to just get past the defenses - but, well, that would kind of defeat the purpose of being a distraction, wouldn't it? Even if that's only part of what he's trying to do. Instead, he swerves the Valhawk into what would resemble a drop-loop if done in atmosphere and gravity, trying to cut in behind some of the defending Hi-Rounders, and begins strafing them with the Laser Vulcan, trying to damage their engines without blowing them apart entirely. Ernula said to leave the ship wounded but not to destroy it; he figures that probably holds as true for their fighters as well - and it'll cost the Triple-S (and/or A-LAWS) more to repair damaged machines than to load new ones onto the ship at their layover. "Attacks inbound...threat level, marginal..." The blasts from Xiang's ship meet the Ginga's defensive network, beams being absorbed against shields that are carried by rapidly moving 'bits.' Dewey pauses for a moment, reviewing the displays... One of the Ageha speaks up, "The larger ship is likely the command vessel. We should aim to disable it! Prepare to fire lasers!" The beams of the Ginga open up, its usually a beautiful, over complicated display, but in ship to ship combat, it is merely akin to a standard beam barrage. Although the standard battleship can't usually open up with all of its armament simultaneously. Juku fires the engines of the REX as soon as the two kilometer long ship is in visual range. The invisible Mobile Suit streaks through space and rolls over to get a good look at the massive Senko Colony ship. "Tch... where do you even /start/?" she glances across the super structure of the ship and picks out a turret. "I guess thats somewhere." The REX fires it's engines and descends towards the cigar shaped ship. It lifts it's variable laser rifle and lines up with it's target as it becomes visible again. A blast of infrared energy slices out through space to cut a swatch across the ship's hull towards one of it's forward turrets. Thank God big targets were so easy to get close to. The jumpcore was the most heavily-defended part of the ship, according to Ernula, which meant - as previously mentioned - that it was the job of the Totally Invisible Deathscythe Hell Super Special Awesome Stealth Technique to get in there and blow it the eff up. So here he goes, slipping along invisible currents and dancing between radio and radar and sonar waves, avoiding every sensor by sliding right through its blind points rather than utilizing conventional jamming. He was an *expert* at this, after all; he was a born specialist. *Maybe* that meant that Juku wouldn't worry *too* too much about him. "This jump core's got a date with its maker," Duo mumbles to himself as he eases the machine into position. All it takes is a brief boost to slip through the Hi-Rounder defenses, but that meant that he was in the absolute worst position - surrounded, with a wall on one side and a wall on the other. This was *literally* suicidal for anyone else - the odds of escaping were quite frankly pathetic, even with Duo's high-tech machine and the support of his friends. But hey, that was the kind of mission they were best at. And he didn't intend to throw his life away anymore. Duo slides the Deathscythe Hell up to the jumpcore. This was the do-or-die moment...this was the point when everything was going to light up like a bright green dot. Deathscythe Hell's wings pop open. While it remains invisible from sensors, there's still a *giant green rocket-powered double-scythe* sitting right there, and of course the big black-winged robot that just popped into existence from seemingly *nothing* is probably somewhat worrying to anyone who isn't /blind/. Deathscythe Hell raises its scythe. The rockets flare to life. The scythe comes swinging downwards towards the jumpcore. Consequences be damned - Duo Maxwell wasn't going to die today. He had something to *live* for, after all. The red GNXIII waves away the crowd of mecha moving to support it, indicating the enemy squads they need to face. Breaking off from the main group, it glances around, and spots the Deathscythe's attack run. This would be problematic, especially if it manages to succeed, and so it glides over the top of the warship, looking down at the black Gundam. Setting the lance's virtual sights on the Deathscythe's head, the faceless pilot focuses on the mobile suit, hoping for a clean shot to draw it away... Or cripple it before it can do irreperable damage. After a few moments to steady the shot, a blast of GN partcles burst from the lance, streaking down towards the Deathscythe! "Incoming fire sir." Yu Zhi Wu claims, as streams of beams rush across space back at the SuiKyosha. "Evasive maneuvers. Deploy ice crystals." The Emperor claims, and taps a claw of the gauntlet against the coral throne that is his captain's seat. Immediately, in response to this request, the waves change somewhat, slipping along the bottom-port side and pushes the massive watership towards the side. At the same time, its smaller cannons start spewing small orbs of ice into space around it randomly... which after a second or so, explode and form gigantic shards of ice - sticking out with pointy sides and everything. The beams fired by the Ginga hit these crystals, refract and turn into prisms - but become almost entirely harmless. There is however more coming in. The golden lights can clearly be seen from the bridge. Yu Zhi Wu is about the announce them, as Xiang raises his hand. The crystals of ice that it'd formed earlier quickly rush to the front of the ship and intercept the beams, which end up /shattering/ and cooking the watersupplies - some of it beyond use of even the SuiKyosha's godlike powers over water. "Ignore them for now, engage the smaller ship and let the elite operatives take down the basic turrets of the Basso Serio first. We don't want to catch them in too much of a crossfire." At the same time, a gigantic... hand forms above the Ginga. The water that is flowing through space at the moment, driven by magic, coalesces and twists in shape, and forms a gigantic hand of ice that tries to backhand the bridge of the ship and shatters into pieces! At the same time, whilst the ship still moves towards the Basso Serio - attempting to intercept it and rest at its side, a massive... wave of missiles fire from the SuiKyosha. All over the place, little gates open and release white missiles that leave a trail of crystal-blue behind them. Crystals of ice, supercharged with magic, streak through space and are aimed all throughout the locations of the Ginga. Prinner X in the meantime, chases forwards and continues to fire little red lasers at the Basso Serio - to little avail. But Kurtis sure is trying. He even opens a commchannel to the Basso Serio. <"This is Kurtis, TRUE Defender of the Senko Colonies! I demand you transfer control of your ship to me."> The fact of the matter is that Arius is small enough to seem like a fly compared to the size of the huge battleship. Smaller than even most mobile suits, it isn't too likely to gain much attention - except from the turret operators of those ones she happens to be getting up close and personal with. Just as the knight is coming close to knocking his staff into one of them, it swivels towards the guymelef and fires off a shot, disrupting her attack mid-swing. Sinya, pulling hard on the controls, grits her teeth as she manages to use the unit's modified thrusters to get mostly out of the way of the counter attack, even if she hasn't been able to do any damage to the battleship. The catgirl's eyes sweep across, obviously keeping an eye on the other Trailers in combat. The fact is, she's more of a support player than a combatant most of the time, so it's always to her advantage to watch her friends for damage. the catgirl's eyes linger on the SuiKyosha. Something a trained soldier probably wouldn't do, as it leaves her open to the strange ball cannons that fire off of the Basso Serio's hull. Caught off-guard, Sinya waves her arms, causing Arius's wings to flex and somehow sweep him backwards. Wait - how exactly did that work? Sometimes, with La Gian units, it is simply better off not trying to think too hard about the logic of such things. "Tssh. Need to pay more attention. They'll be fine." She sighs to herself. Her ears slick backwards against her head even as the catgirl's tail lashes. With a show of her fangs, the catgirl mechanic seems to get serious, latching on to the side of the battleship as she edges closer to her originally targeted turret. She'd failed once, but this time hopefully she's close enough to be able to knock the thing clear off the hull. Winding up the staff, Arius sweeps it over his head as Sinya's movements mime out the arc of the attack. Then, with a quick motion, the hard end of the staff is swept down over the guns, seeking to smash it before it can do any further damage. "Attack successful we have..." The hand isn't even noticed until it smashes down into the Ginga. The sudden expression of kinetic force striking the orange battleship and knocking it off of its usual headings... Due to the physics of space, it ends up being rather decisively ejected downwards due to the strike... Fortunately, since the Ginga was not designed by an imbecile, this has no perceptable effect on those inside. "Damage report," one of the Ageha shouts. "We've lost atmosphere on three decks. Reflection film coating is damaged. Dorsal emitters are dead. Other laser batteries are reporting loss of confirmable operational capabilities." "Crew casualties are currently at roughly fifteen, they were lost when we lost atmosphere containment." Dewey looks at the tactical display, "Without sufficient intelligence we're not going to be capable of handling this opponent. Gunnery officer, fire on the enemy, lets attempt to keep him occupied for the moment." Juku squawks as the infrared laser fails to acomplish anything, and the huge ship fires right back. The REX darts to the side and dives backwards as the flower shaped explosion sends bolts of energy through the area of space Juku occupied a moment ago. "Wow, an /almost/ effective anti-mech weapon on a battleship." This is something of a novelty. The REX twists around and flattens it's trajectory out as it grasps a weapon from it's side and points the mech sized pistol out at one of hte smaller turrets on hte huge ship, firing the gigantic sized desert eagle three times. This is annoying as heck - Kazuma is used, by and large, to the Valhawk having superior mobility to his opponents. He hasn't fought military-grade Hi-Rounders before, though, and Star Gold knows their stuff - the Valhawk gets hammered from multiple sides, and despite throwing in every tight-turn maneuver he knows, Kazuma can't quite draw a bead on any of them to hit the Hi-Rounders back. "Tch ... Mihiro, any suggestions?" "Come around to 45 by 15, straighten out, and hit maximum acceleration," Mihiro offers. "Ramming?" asks Kazuma as he lines the Valhawk up on the suggested vector, straightens it out, and fires up the engines at full thrust .... zipping right out of the englobement. "Not really, just getting us out of the thick of them for a moment," Mihiro answers, trying not to look or sound too pleased with herself. Kazuma chuckles. "Better'n nothing. All right!" He brings the Valhawk back around and converts to Close Combat mode, deploying the Ray Blade and zipping towards one of the Hi-Rounders, trying to cut the cockpit away from the engines. Or something. Dour Ernula transmits, "The dissonant unit is more clever than I expected. Is this more than just a shadow?" Xiang Yuan transmits, "Does she say anything?" Dour Ernula transmits, "She...thinks I am the dissonant one." Xiang Yuan transmits, "I admit, I know nothing of... well... your kind. But can you not perhaps try to sort this out peacefully aboard my ship?" Dour Ernula transmits, "Dissonance is dangerous." Dour Ernula transmits, "If I do not take care of this, it might undo all that I am." Xiang Yuan transmits, "How would this be?" Dour Ernula transmits, "I do not want to die." Well this simple little battle just got like a hundred times more dangerous. Nevermind that they knew he was there (he could usually deal with mooks), the appearance of the GN-??? person was slightly more of an issue - GN-powered machines usually had Gundam-level performance specs and top pilots, which meant that his carving into the jumpcore just got like twenty times tougher. It probably officially counts as a stupid thing now. Duo jerks the controls to the left as the blast streaks through the area he just was, GN particles vanishing off into the starlit sky. That was too close for his comfort; too damned close, as were the cannons that streak past where he had been just a second ago. Duo makes a 'tsk' sound as he re-evaluates the area; this suddenly went from a strike mission to a struggle, and a struggle meant that his chances of surviving were getting more and more miniscule every second. Well, hell. Duo's primary objective was destroying the Jump Core. The GN-XIII is not to be ignored, however; as the scythe rises into the sky, Deathscythe suddenly swings downwards for the jumpcore...and then vanishes midway-through, its wings folding in on itself! And when it reappears... Oh, come on, it's pretty obvious where it is, right? RIGHT BEHIND YOU "/KURTIS/." Captain Gordon lets that name slide off his tongue like acid, pointing at the appropriate communications screen, "You know I cannot do that, for I would be violating the trust placed upon me by High Command! I will not betray the Narukami Family, not even for an old comrade such as you! You forsook your chance to command this vessel when you left the Service!" Point defense turrets swing on the Prinner X, even though it's not proving to be much of a threat. The same guns swing on the Arius, but before they can even open fire, they're crushed under the Guymelef's staff. When it's attacked again, the Core ejects another spray of laser fire in self defense. Even touching the thing seems to provoke a response. Additional turrets swivel on the Arius and the REX, filling space around Basso Serio with a mixture of beam shots and unguided missiles When the Valhawk closes in, it just puts itself at risk to the anti-air barrage. On the bridge, Thursday looks up, "Captain, the Gordon Cannon is ready to fire." Captain Gordon leans forward with a grin, "Very well! Target the enemy flagship! Ready? Open fire!" Heavily armored doors just under the bridge tower rise out, then slide to either side, exposing the machinery and muzzle of the Basso Serio's main gun. It's not actually called the 'Gordon Cannon', the new captain just decided to call it that, and nobody's had the heart to try and tell him otherwise. The weapon charges, protected by missile batteries and laser turrets, until it finally discharges a positively enormous lance of golden energy straight for the SuiKyosha's rear quarter. With space around the Basso Serio converted into a hazard zone, the Star Gold squadron reforms and speeds to a safe distance. They leave the Valhawk alone and at the mercy of the Serio's remaining gun batteries, waiting for an opening so they can dive back into the fray. This was a problem... With the Deathscythe's attention drawn, the GNXIII's pilot now found themself under fire. Or rather, under-cut, as the a swipe of the Deathscythe's titular scythe slashes the back of the Jinx's legs. Wildly flailing with its own beam saber in response, the pilot dashes away from the Gundam, not eager to get up close an personal with the Grim Reaper of the colonies... Once more, the GNXIII levels its rifle, and, once more trying to keep focus on the rapidly-moving Gundam, it opens fire seemingly into empty space, attempting to predict the Gundam's next evasive dash. "The smaller ship has taken severe damage sir." The helmsman reports. Xiang continues to tap his gauntlet's finger against the armrest of his throne, staring out at the main screen. His eyes for a moment dance towards the battle between Ernula and Ernula, before returning to the Basso Serio and the Ginga. "Split our attacks between the targets, and dive down beneath the Basso Serio." He commands. The beams of Dewey's ship flash against the front bow of the SuiKyosha, scarring its metal - which disperses in a flurry of steam, before recoalescing in space and returning to the front, just to reform itself. In respone, the helmsman swings the rudder around, and the SuiKyosha begins to tip over along its side, turning a good ninety degrees and goes on a straight collision course with the longer and slightly more sizable Tripple-S ship. At the last moment, the ship of the ocean dives beneath the enemy capital unit and almost cuts against it with its fins. "Open all main cannons on the two ships, spread evenly." Yu Zhi Wu then commands. The guns at the back of the watership aim towards the Basso Serio it is diving under, whilst the large front main beam weapon charges up for another shot - pulsing quickly before letting a cutting beam sear through space again, aimed at taking out the bottom half of the Ginga. The two large tailcannons then unleash a barrage upon the bottom of the cigar-shaped Basso Serio's belly. The Armored Core units in the meantime have landed on the Basso and are quickly attempting to take out its turrets. Whilst the Prinner X? Well, the Prinner X is, in fact, trying to figure out how to shoot the Pringer Beam. And at the same time, Gordon's communication comes back in. Kurtis, within his Gunmen Prinner X, stares angrily at the 'wannabe' hero. <"I did not betray them, they betrayed me! I brought the flaws of their plans to light, and they kicked me out - ME! The true hero! Surely, Gordon, you see the error of yours ways. What you are doing is wrong."> Don't expect any outsiders to follow this conversation. <"Now prepare! Prinner Bomb!"> And the Prinner X raises its arms - reaching behind itself, and suddenly... reveals a bomb! It throws it right at the deck of the enemy ship, and then quickly hides behind one of their large main cannons. While one gun may go down under the swing of the guymelef's staff, that doesn't mean that there aren't plenty of others being aimed in her direction. Luckily, the catgirl's quickness is able to keep her unit out of range of the worst of the missles, the lasers singing one of the knight's wings but leaving the rest mostly unscathed. One might /almost/ guess that she might know what she's doing - even if it's the furthest thing from the truth. Hissing under her breath, the catgirl's fur is standing on end, forced from the stressful situation of being in the middle of a fire-fight. She's far more used to repairing ships than causing damage. Of course, that doesn't mean that she won't try to find a way through the monsterous ship's armor, or to figure out a weak point. Turning her head quickly, Sinya shifts Arius a bit away from the main hull, trying to get a better view of the ship itself. "There!" She notes, sounding somewhat excited as she seems to notice a weak point in the ship's hull. If nothing else, it might be a place where she can disrupt some of the ship's systems by causing enough damage. A fierce grin forms on the catgirl's lips as she swings her staff forward, the glowing rod making a strange sound as it swivels through the emptiness of space. This time, she doesn't even spare a second glance around before continuing her attack. Engaging the guymelef's thrusters, she charges forward, seeking to stab the staff through that weak point and into the propulsion systems of the Basso Serio. It isn't an attack on the jump drive like other pilots might be targeting, but one aimed at slowing down the main thrusters. @##!@#!$ what was probably a newtype, Duo manages to think as Eight's shot sheers off a good chunk of Deathscythe's armor; it punches through the shield-wing just so, puncturing through to the other side and very narrowly taking off the arm and left side of Deathscythe - and it quite frankly would've if Duo hadn't just dodged to the left quite literally just in time to avoid being killed. He was damned good, but that was too damned close. Too damned close for comfort. So he couldn't multitask with the jumpcore; he had to deal with the GN pilot immediately, or he was going to get himself killed. Which meant risking the groups around him to close in and kill him. Which meant he was probably a dead man. Well, never let it be said that Duo Maxwell didn't like a challenge. Duo's fingers tighten around the joysticks as he kills the invisibility field, the wings of Deathscythe (now with one sparking hole in them) spreading very, very wide. The twin rocket-scythe swings around in his hands with all the dexterity of someone piloting a Gundamfighter, as though it were true human hands manipulating that blade as he moves in for the strike. He had to devastate her right the hell now, and then move back to the core, then cut his way through the hordes of mooks and get back to whichever ship was going to reclaim him after killing that freaking jump core. It's a good thing there wasn't a God, or Duo might suspect that He was kind of pissy at the young man for all those 'nonexistant god' cracks. The cannonade from the enemy ship strikes in firmly against the bridge section of the Ginga, blasting out the plast-steel restraints and momentarilly opening the bridge up to vacuum... Dewey grabs his Ageha moments before the shutters slam down into position... "Damage report." The navigator, resumes his position, "Damage sustained is rapidly reaching critical levels..." Dewey nods, "Withdraw." The Ginga turns, powering away at maximum speed. The Star Gold squadron's withdrawal comes as a moderate relief to Kazuma, although the Basso Serio starts making up for their withdrawal to some extent. Still, he has a relatively easy time (as these things go) of dodging the turretfire; his counter-attacks with the Beam Shot Launcher do relatively little against the warship's armor, though. "Terrific ... Mihiro, any good-looking weak spots on that thing?" "Duo's trying to hit their drive core, I think," Mihiro answers, "so getting in his way probably isn't a great idea. Getting in close and working on those turrets and other weapons might be a good idea - the more of those we can take out, the better for our friends!" Kazuma nods, and the Valhawk starts heading in closer to the ship, stowing the Beam Shot Launcher on its mounting bracket again, reactivating the Ray Blade, and starting to endeavor to shave turrets off the ship's hull ... REX dodges and weaves and grazes the bullet under Juku's controls. rolling around the multi-colored bursts of energy from the gigantic ship. "Alright, I'm sick of getting saturated." The REX Hound spins around and take a weapon from it's back, holding the longer wepon over it's shoulder. The multi barreled weapon launches it's own spray of explosive warheads at the hull of the S.S.S. ship because Juku's player cannot spell the name of that thing. The warheads exploding across the hull in their own light show.... wether they do anything is another matter. "I won't be swayed by you!" Captain Gordon declares, "I've read the reports, Kurtiss!" Poor, deluded Gordon. He shoots a look across the bridge, and Jennifer announces, "The Gordon Cannon missed, captain. Enemy vessel is repositioning... Below!" Gordon turns, thrusting out a hand, "Thrusters to full! Fold in the solar sail and get us out of here!" Explosions rattle the Serio, but thankfully its armor withstands the point-blank barrage better than the captain was expecting. The solar panel 'wings' surrounding the vessel amidships begin to fold in, granting it easier maneuvering within the cluttered Shoal Zone. The jumpcore pulses, and its engines push the ship further from its own repair depot. As the Ginga comes about and makes its retreat, Captain Gordon awards the ship a salute, "You did what you could, thank you!" He then returns his attention to the battle at hand. Thursday drones out, "Enemy Rounders are too maneuverable. Point defense batteries are having difficulty in targetting. Central control linkage damaged. Forward thruster response time increased by 4.8. Forward gun battery offline." With an angry frown, Gordon rears his fist up and slams it down on the armrest of his command chair, "Blast it all, doesn't anything on this ship work?!" Something beeps, and with a puzzled expression, Gordon lifts his hand to discover a pulsing red button underneath. Leaning down, he squints at the writing. A second later, the man dons his reading glasses. "... 'All of them'?" Ports along all four sides of the Basso Serio's hull slide open, more cannons sliding out into space. A second later, space around the Basso Serio erupts into bursts of laser fire and more missiles. "Oh! I see! /ALL/ of them!" Due to the efforts of Kazuma, Sinya, and Juku, the ship has lost a large number of turrets now, and ruptures in the armored hull trail smoke. Atmosphere billows out in great flames for a second or two from fresh breaches before the decks can be closed off. True to her spirit as a ship of war, though, the Basso Serio is far from giving in. Though, she sure is trying to get *out*. She also doesn't seem to be fighting at full effectiveness. A sign of the new captain? Is the ship understaffed? It certainly feels like Ernula picked a good opportunity for this mission. Speaking of Ernula, the Castrato twins continue to spiral around one another, hurling out sprays of energy shots and occasional flashes of the Ensemble Laser. It seems quite even, shockingly enough. At least, until a flash of the Ensemble Laser shears off the arm and leg of one of them. Unbalanced, the damaged Rounder spirals to one side and down, slamming into one of the large stones that makes up the Shoal Zone's typical topography. A moment after impact, the battered Rounder detonates, hurtling the asteroid out of its orbit with chunks of rabbit-decal yellow metal embedded in it. A newtype? Possibly. Or maybe just a lucky grunt with a Beam Lance. Regardless of theories, the GNXIII's success is almost cut short, as the Deathscythe delivers a near-fatal strike, only just missing the vital components by a sudden, wild leap by the Federation suit. Once again it dances away, opening up the range, and leading the now-focused Duo away from the core. Staring at the targeting image of the Gundam, the pilot dispenses with subtlety. With a an unexpected burst of speed, the Jinx pulls a fast spiral around the Gundam, ending with a mad charge, lance blazing with trapped GN Particles, at the Deathscythe, aiming to skewer it and knock it away! Ernula transmits, "...I..." "...killed..." "...her..." Dour Ernula transmits, "...Master." Kazuma Ardygun transmits, "... so how much more do we wanna do to the Basso Serio? Ship's got some fight left, but judging by how they're maneuvering, I don't think they wanna hang around much longer either." Dour Ernula transmits, "...Beat her a little more if you like. I'll deliver the message before they are out of range." Xiang Yuan transmits, "Warning to all trailer forces." Xiang Yuan transmits, "The SuiKyosha is about to freeze space." Dour Ernula transmits, "...Very well." Xiang Yuan transmits, "Please turn on any heating equipment you may have with you - but you should be unaffected." Kazuma Ardygun transmits, "'Freeze space'?" Dour Ernula transmits, "The SuiKyosha utilizes magic. Don't ask questions, just do as he requested." Sinya Leland transmits, "Sometimes, you let logic take a backseat. Especially where the SuiKyosha is involved." Xiang Yuan transmits, "Miss Leland, I hope you'll be fine?" "They are retreating." Xiang squints a bit, to see the monitor better. An early sign of aging? Or maybe he just needs glasses. Either way, as Dewey's ship turns tail and aims to flee, Xiang raises his bare hand, before explaining; "Let them leave. Remember, we are here to disable the Basso Serio, not to destroy it. I don't want any more casualties than needed." Yu Zhi Wu nods, and the ship begins to quickly pull around as the enemy ship tries to flee. Whilst the Basso Serio may be slightly more maneuverable, there is certainly a sense of... speed within the SuiKyosha. The water in space begin to move, waves being generated that push against the back bow of the water elemental ship. "Follow that ship, and continue to pull underneath it. And fire at the solar panels." The XO commands, reading Xiang Yuan's wishes from him through their telepathic connection. The main cannons suddenly begin to pull in, and the main cannon deactivates. In fact, all the light of the SuiKyosha seems to dull just that slight bit. Within the living quarters, lights flicker, as the God within the ship begins to grow restless. The water within the entire ship begins to rumble. The fish living within the walls grow nervous and quickly flee within their little homes, and anyone with some animal-like or even NewType like senses may realize that something unnatural is taking space. The waterparticles that have been mixed throughout the entire battlefield begin to slow down, the waves that have been moving around then suddenly rush forwards, past the GN-XIII and the Basso - and try to ram against their suits. More importantly, with the latter, it tries to cover the solar fans. And the moment they might touch... suddenly... SNAP! Like out of nowhere, all water in contact with the SuiKyosha turns to ice. The massive battleship however doesn't lose any speed, and cuts through the sudden solid block of ice that leads straight for its opponent - whilst trying to draw it back - trying to stop it from fleeing the battlefield. <"Don't be a fool Gordon!"> Kurtis in the meantime calls out, the the Prinner X suddenly... starts to dance before the bridge. <"Look at me! This is a hero's dance!" Random disco lights suddenly appear, as the sun hits the ice in space and creates a beautiful aurora. <"That light shines upon me, Gordon! What greater proof do you have that I am the true hero!?"> And the Prinner X Gunmen continues to dance. Sinya Leland transmits, "A little cold, but just fine, Captain." With more gunfire coming her way, the catgirl is only able to get a weak hit in against that one weak point. She's forced to use her own maneuverability to get some range and then loses sight of the target along the entirely too huge ship. As good as she is with machines, it's all too easy to lose sight of such a small spot with something so unfamiliar. Unfamiliar, and shooting at her from all directions. Clenching her teeth, the catgirl gives another quick movement of her arms, the wings of the knight sweeping her backwards to get a clearer view of the Basso Serio and of the battle still raging around it. Some ships were already retreating, but it seemed that most of those on their side were still functional. Inwardly, there is a bit of relief at seeing the Trailer battleship only lightly damaged. "Hang in there." She murmurs to herself, biting at her lower lip as she turns her eyes away towards her target. Using her own quickness, the catgirl weaves her guymelef between the gunfire. However, it is Ernula's voice over the radio that gives her pause. Once more, the way that voice speaks of her other selves leaves a sort of sick feeling in her stomach. Pressing her lips together, the catgirl shakes her head, ears flopping downward. It reminds her a little too much of fighting her friends - something she's had to do more than once lately - even if for a good cause. Arius sweeps his staff backwards, stopping it at his side as Sinya haults to listen. One ear perks. Xiang's voice, asking them to put on heating. Unlike other units, this isn't exactly an automatic thing for the guymelef, so it's a good thing she has enough notice to switch the heaters to high. Small lines of red - heating elements - become visible along the knight's body, making it seem a bit eerie in the darkness of space. Even so, when the chill settles on her, the catgirl's breath hangs in the air. Drawing her hands together, Arius mimics her motion and brings his staff forward. With a quick spin of the knight's wrists, and a hard blast of the unit's thrusters, the guymelef draws in close once more, swingint the staff out in a series of motions, trying to catch as many of the guns as it can as he makes another fly-by. with the battleship seemingly trying to escape, it was time to do a bit of last minute damage before sending them on their way. The Valhawk weaves away from the Basso Serio's continued defensive fire from the turrets which haven't been disabled yet; then the warning comes through from the SuiKyosha that they're about to freeze space. Whatever THAT happens to mean, Kazuma figures it's probably a good idea to get out of range ... but before the Valhawk goes speeding off entirely, he maneuvers to where he's got a clear shot at those solar-panel wings the Basso Serio was showing off earlier. It's not the Laser Vulcan or Beam Shot Launcher he's bringing to bear, though ... instead, the Valhawk brings its arms up, hands cupping around a vacant sphere in front of the machine's torso ... and a ball of plasma begins forming between its hands, crackling and flaring with stray energy as the charge builds up, drawn straight from the Valhawk's main power core. "Here's one for the road! PLASMA EXECUTION, MAXIMUM SHOOT!!!" The ball of plasma goes flying at the Triple-S ship's flank ... and on impact, erupts into a huge blue-white explosion, while the Valhawk busies itself putting extra distance between itself and the freezing-field. Jukus frantical dodging of the Basso Serio's return fire is interuppted as the Dissonante Ernula is finally shot down crashing on the asteroid "...she's dead...?" She can only imagine what that put Ernula through. Killing a piece of yourself, no matter how much it's changed or warped... Her introspection is interrupted by an explosion from the ship's guns. "Shit! I can't forget where I am!" She turns the REX around and dives across the S.S.S shi's side as it reaches for another weapon. This one's barrel extends and splits apart into a pair of magnetic accelerators. The barrel charges and fires... A completely harmless spray of metal particles? Iron-oxide and aluminium particles infact. They coat over the ship's hull until Juku pulls another switch and a arc of electricity between the barrels ignites them. Thermite: the the thermic reaction betweenth e two metals is hot enough that even in space, the material burns to produce lava tempratures molten metal. Roaring with passion, Captain Gordon leaps to his feet and assumes a position before the viewing windows of the Basso Serio's bridge, beholding the dance of the Prinnar X on the forward deck. He throws out his hands, "You call that the Hero's Dance! You dance like a fool, Kurtis! Allow me to show you how a true hero celebrates his victory!" And so, the captain breaks it down. On the opposite end of the bridge, both Thursday and Jennifer stare at the animated man and his impromptu dance contest. The Basso Serio rattles, and the underside solar assembly completely shears off, lodged in the ice forming around it. However, the shape of the warship allows it to slip free relatively easily. She doesn't escape unscathed, though. Far from it, in fact. The Valhawk's plasma shot detonates amidships, blasting an enormous hole in the hull. The last of the point defense turrets are smashed beyond use by the Arius. There's a huge section of hull turned completely molten by the REX, and then frozen by SuiKyosha, resulting in a dramatic thermal shock effect that rips out a large section of hull. All that's left is the Gordon Cannon, which only faces forward over the front deck, and in this retreating status is just not going to be brought to bear. While the Prinner X and Captain Gordon exchange their own version of broadsides, Jennifer closes her eyes with a sigh. She raises one hand over her console, watching the Captain. And right when he hipthrusts, she presses down. The Gordon Cannon fires immediately, with the Prinnar X *right there* in front of it. "THAT is how a REAL hero dances in celebration, Kurtis!" Gordon declares as the laser cannon goes off. He thrusts his fist forward triumphantly, "Until you realize that, you will never be a TRUE Defender of the Senko Colonies!" Turning his head, he points, "We did well, considering how badly outnumbered we were and our understaffed crew! I could not have expected better!" Returning to his command chair, the captain enters communications status, "Blue-0, we have cleared the Shoal zone. You've done well in protecting the Jumpcore! Now, return so we can get out of here." When the laser cannon goes off, the Prinner X is blasted at full blast! The gigantic golden wave crashes into the Gunmen... and literally obliterates it! Its host, Kurtis, is blasted off into space at high velocity - losing parts of his limbs and chest. Unbeknownst to the others though. They had been watched by unknown forces. A black ship picks up the floating body within moments, and a young man with white hair and glasses grins. "EXPERIMENTS! YES! This is a hero! See, he even has the title. Now, I can finally get rid of this darned Prinny(?) title!" The red labcoat wearing young man claims. The response from a rather... casual young man next to him, black hair, blue clothing is... "Mao... I really don't think..." - "SILENCE SLAVE! This must be done... FOR SCIENCE!" (Archievement unlocked: Kurtis is now available for download as a DLC for Disgaea 3!) The SuiKyosha continues to bear down through the ice path, attempting to overtake the enemy ship. But it seems like it won't be able to make it. It launches a series of ice-missiles on the thrusters of the ship even as it attempts to launch, homing in on his opponnent, but at the same time... the hangar doors open. Those trailer forces who need a rest can come on board. And Xiang Yuan claims as much. A call goes out to all active forces. With the fly-by complete, Sinya presses her feet down, spinning Arius about in space so that she can watch the retreat of the Basso Serio. Raising her hand, she folds her fingers around the controls, causing the brightly-lit staff to go dark as it draws energy back inward. The glowing heating elements still make the gryphon knight look more like something out of Tron rather than a medieval war machine. Letting a breath hiss out of her lips, the catgirl pulls her visor up, blinking as her eyes adjust to normal vision. Her ears twitch within the confines of the cockpit. Somehow, she'd managed to come out of this battle surprisingly unscathed, which is enough to be thankful for. "Leland to SuiKyosha. Heading home." Home. It's a strange word for her to use, but somehow, both the Trailers and in many ways the SuiKyosha itself ahd become 'home' for her lately. Kazuma winces a bit as the Plasma Execution rips open the ship's hull .... but he can't see anybody being sucked out into space, so he settles for switching the Valhawk back to Air Force mode, and heading for the SuiKyosha. Mission accomplished, pretty much. This doesn't really leave him in a celebratory mood, though ... Shit shit shit shit shit shit shit SHIT The better half of the Deathscythe Hell explodes into pieces (the better half being the legs) as Duo lags just a split second too slow, and the lance comes piercing through the waist of the machine in an instant. GN particles discharge, and the lower half of Deathscythe Hell is torn away, exploding into tiny pieces as the upper half floats backwards on its wing-thrusters and the lack of gravity, and little else. This was not a good situation, at all; not any part of this was good for Duo, not the ship behind him, not the surrounding Hi-rounders, not the GN Driver in front of him. This was awful all around. Fortunately, at that moment, his girlfriend and Xiang save the day and send the Basso Serio into retreat. So in that brief interval, Duo fires the thrusters again, pulling as far away from that GN-XIII as he can on what fuel he has remaining his wings. It's not much, but he's surrounded by friendlies - one of them will pick him up. Or, well, he *could* be left to rot. But he was pretty sure Juku wouldn't let him get off the hook for this stupid stunt *that* easily. With the Basso Serio shattered at in full retreat, the GNXIII pilot has to accept small mercies. The Gundam is likewise crippled by this assault, but with no-one left to assist in a final takedown, the pilot sighs. The order's already been given. And disobeying would be... unwise. With a rapid about-face, the GNXIII takes off, heading towards the Ginga, hoping to catch it up. Better face the creepy old man, then explain herself to a self-proclaimed 'hero'... Still under fire, the Basso Serio warms up its Jumpcore, the gem-like core unit emitting light and radiation. No wonder it's exposed, no amount of shielding could contain something that intense! On the bridge, Captain Gordon salutes, "Very well! Until we meet again, Blue-0!" He points, "Thursday, take us out--" But, he's interrupted by one of the viewscreens--The one displaying the remaining Castrato--becomes occupied with the face of a young blonde girl. It's Ernula's Core, clad in her tight-fitting Connect-Skin, with the hood down. "You know who I am," she states in a dispassionate voice that suits her expression, "What you don't know is why we attacked you, and why you are being permitted to leave alive." She leans forward, "You will cease all attempts to capture Master. As you can see, you are not the only one who has made powerful friends. I am not powerless. If you threaten Master again, you all will die." Before the dumbstruck captain can even respond, she closes the transmission. Gordon raises a finger, then retracts it to scratch the side of his nose. A second later, he points, "Take us out, Thursday." "Roger, Captain." Once again, the damaged core spins up to speed, and the Basso Serio lurches off into the distance at a dizzying speed. Within the Castrato, Ernula removes her hands from the controls and closes her eyes with a low sigh. Dissonance. After a moment to collect herself, the girl activates her local radio. In a bright voice, she says, "Thank you all for helping me! I know this might not sit well with some of you, so I'll have to do something to make it up to you later." Category:Logs